How to Work with Translators in Research: Lessons from the Field

Introduction: Navigating Cultural Nuances in Sri Lanka

Earlier this year, our team spent three and a half weeks in Sri Lanka, researching device financing and its potential impact on mobile money adoption. While Sri Lanka and Pakistan share some cultural elements as South-Asian countries, we quickly discovered that each country has unique dynamics and behaviors. 

We were three designers, with no experience of conducting research in languages other than Urdu, local Pakistani languages including Punjabi, Saraiki, Sindhi and Pashto along with a little bit of English. We were navigating a foreign land with a population that mostly speaks Sinhala or Tamil. Not only were we completely unfamiliar with the languages, we were also figuring how to contextualize our research practices and tools for the people we were interacting with.

While some of us had experience working with translators on previous projects, we had only ever done it locally. So, despite being unfamiliar with a local language, we were still able to pick up on cultural nuances and subtleties. That wasn’t the case in Sri Lanka.  Without a translator, our insights into the nuances of Sri Lankan culture and behavior were significantly limited. When going into an unfamiliar context, having a local member in the research team meant that we were informed preemptively about things that despite good intentions might be seen as unusual or even impolite. 

For example, in Pakistan, offering chai and biscuits is a common gesture of hospitality, but in Sri Lanka, offering something uncooked, like chips or biscuits, could be seen as inappropriate. Our translator’s cultural insights helped us navigate these subtleties, ensuring our interactions were respectful and aligned with local customs.

The role of a translator during this project was not only of a linguistic facilitator, they were the bridge that made our research possible.

Setting Clear Expectations 

Before going into the field, it’s important to make sure that the translator knows what they have signed up for. At this point, you have to set clear expectations of the translator’s role. Their job was to translate the participants’ responses as literally as possible, leaving the interpretation of the data to the researchers. 

The research also involved extensive user testing for which we had to develop interactive prototypes in Sinhala and Tamil as well. Naturally, the translator also had an active role in that process since adding nuance to the language of digital financial products isn’t always enough. As designers, you cannot rely on formal or textbook translations that might not resonate with the everyday language of your target users. You need to speak a users’ everyday language to make your service proposition easy for them to understand. Instead of using translations from Google, we spent hours working with our translator to find the right colloquial terms and financial terminology. 

Understanding how the use of language enhances accessibility and inclusion for the user directly benefits businesses by making their onboarding experience more efficient. By effectively communicating with the users in a language that resonates with them, businesses can build trust and help their users feel more confident while adopting their product or service.

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In the Field: The Translator As a Cultural Guide 

Once we were in the field, our translator’s role extended beyond just asking the users questions and relaying their answers to us. They helped us navigate social dynamics, advising us on appropriate behavior and communication styles. They pointed out cues and body language that we might have missed otherwise. 

After one of our interviews had concluded, our translator advised us against referring to numbers like 1500 as "fifteen hundred." He explained that in Sri Lanka, especially among the working class, this phrasing could be confusing for those with limited English proficiency. Instead, it’s clearer to say "one thousand five hundred," which is more easily understood. Similarly, he picked up on the fact that “advance” was a more commonly understood English term compared to “down payment.”

After the first few days of the research, our translator was comfortable taking a more proactive role in guiding the team about cultural nuances in the use of language. Some of the users we interviewed were fluent in English, but our translator suggested avoiding colloquial expressions and idiomatic phrases that might be confusing within their context. This made the translator an integral part of the research team, allowing them to contribute to the quality of our interactions with the users. 

It was evident that the participants were also more comfortable talking to us through the translator. They would often ask him to ask us questions such as where we were from, how long we would be in Sri Lanka for, and how many people we wanted to speak to. They would sometimes ask the translator to let us know if they had ever been to Pakistan or if they knew of the country.

Striking The Perfect Balance 

Clear roles in a research team are crucial to avoid miscommunication, ensure a smooth participant experience, and collect mission-critical insights. However, translating conversations inevitably adds time and effort. While an effective in-depth interview typically lasts 30-60 minutes, content complexity and the added layer of translation can lead to participant fatigue, which may result in less thoughtful responses. In our case, translation added around 15 minutes to each interview, making it essential to balance this extra time to maintain reliable insights.

Trust and transparent communication were key to managing this. As our translator became more familiar with the discussion guide and common responses, he gradually took on more of the discussion independently, allowing us to focus on note-taking. He also knew when to involve us in new or unusual responses. This shift made our process more efficient, reduced the translator's burden, and ensured that fatigue didn’t compromise the quality of our research, even with a challenging schedule.